( 345 ) Stansheld Parish Notes. by Rev.Jr
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( 345 ) STANSHELD PARISH NOTES. BY REV. J. R. LITTLE. The Church of Stansfield All Saints, in the Arch- deaconry of Sudbury, lies •about 11 miles south of Bury St. Edmund's, and five miles north of Clare. It stands on: high ground, overlooking the village •on the opposite hill. Domesday mentions a Church in Stansfield, with tithes and glebe. Of that church nothing is now standing : but a few fragments of Norman masonry may - be seen embedded in the walls of the preSent fabric, -and bard by 'lies,a small square cap of a respond or. corbel of the Transition. period (c. 1190), with graceful foliation. • And in a neighbouring barn an oaken column with cap of similar dimensions and design, still forms one of the supports. Hence it may be inferred that the earlier church was partly• of stone and partly of wood. • The. present Church is built. •of rubble, •faced with freestone. Its walls present a veritable museum of geological fragments out of the boulder clay : and in them are also embedded a few blocks. of what seem to be Roman concrete. The Church consists of W. tower, nave with fine south porch and. chancel. The chancel is of the second pointed style (c. 1350), on the outer face of the east wall are two large cinquefoil-headed niches with foliated ogee canopies and finials. The east window is a Perpendicular modern insertion. On the south side is a priest's door. The nave, porch, and tower, are probably a century later than the.chancel, and 3rd pointed. It seems as though the rebuilders of the 14th century commonly began with the chancel, and were often unable to complete. the work for lack of means. .Can it be that the " Black Death " of 1348 checked the work here and elsewhere ? Certainly here, as in very many other..parishes, there was a vacancy by death in the rectory in 1349. The interior of the church is, for a small structure, 346 PARISH OF STANSFIELD. well-proportioned -and dignified. The altar has been raised. The noble arches of the. chancel :and. the tower, and the fine Perpendicular oak roof, add much to the general effect. Of the screen, the lower part alone. remains. The -tracery is singularly beautiful and of the same date•as the chancel. The chancel is paved with rich tiles, •and finished with modern oak stalls Of excellent workmanship. Under the south-east window is a bench-table forming a sedile, and east of ic a pretty piscina with a small opening on its west face. Fragments of good glass • remain in the windows. The south-west window is filled with stained- glass in memory of E. J. Phipps, rector, 1853- 84. The subjects are the Resurrection and Ascension. On the E. wall are three consecration 'crosses, and in the corre- sponding positions outside, three others. In the nave stands a good Jacobean pulpit. On the north side is a blocked-up door. The font, which must have been a very fine one, is 2nd pointed. The bowl, square at the base with sculptured•figures at four angles, has been so mutilated that the figures cannot be recognized. This :mutilation was probably the work of Will. Dowsing, the Parliamentary Commissioner in 1643. The bowl stands upon a central shaft, with clustered foliated angle shafts, and single inter- mediate shafts. These_shafts are all reproductions of the originals, of which some fragments remain. South of the chancel arch was a side altar. Its piscina and a niche remain. The tower is a fine structure, 75 ft. high, with turret staircase at the south-west angle. The base is chequered with alternate squares of flint and clunch. There is a Musical ring of five bells (tenor about 11 Cwt.), recast by Mears and Stainbank in 1896. The old ring of five had been originally cast by, Miles Graye of Colchester in 1652, and the treble recast by Thomas Gardiner of Sudbury in .17.30. Most of them had become hopelessly cracked. In- the churchyard stood in 1686, as evidenced by a Terrier of that date, a chantry-house granted at the dissolution of the chantries to the rector at a yearly rent of 2d. it had disappeared before the Terrier of 1723 was MEMORIALS IN THE CHANCEL. 347 made. On the north side of the church is a turret, known as the little steeple, with stairway leading to the roof, and formerly to the rood-loft also, • The.interior dirnensions are, .from west to east includ-. ing tower, 100 ft. ; nave, 53 ft. x 22 ft. ; chancel, 33 ft. x 22 ft. ; south porCh, 9 ft. 3 itt. x 9 ft. 7 in. In the churchyard lies a wedge-shaped stone-coffin. Hard by stands the rectory, the north wing of which, a solid half-timber building, seems to be of pre-reformation times.. MEMORIALS IN THE CHANCEL.. Ledger, under the altar. Thomas Tyllott (vide "Rectors "). „ north side of altar. Henry Halstead. /I North side. Ledger, " Here lieth the body of Robert Kedington, • one of the sons of Robert Kedington" of this parish, who departed this life the (?) day of August, 1779, aged 21 years." Ledger. " Near this place lies the body of (?) Kedington, another son of' the said Robert Kedington. He died -the 8th day of April, 1780, aged 28 years. (Neither of these' two are entered in the Registers.) Ledger, oldef, much obliterated,—Kedington. Mural Tablet— ArnisPlume impaling Golding. • Plume—ermine, a bend vairy, gules and or. between 2 cotises of the 2nd, a crescent for difference. Golding—gules, a chevron argent between 3 bezants. " To the memory of Robert Plume, gent., youngest son of Edmond Plume of Hawkedon Hall, gent., and Frances his wife, dau. of Thomas Golding of Poslingford, Esq. This monument is by Elizabeth Plume, their youngest daughter and coheiress, dutifully dedicated. Anno Domini 1719. [Robert Plume was buried Jany. 1st, 1679, and Frances Plume, Aug 8th, 1712.] Tablet. Arms—Kedington, on a bend azure 3 pairs of scymitars in saltire erect and indorsed, argent, hilted, or : impaling Kedington. Crest—On a helmet and' tOrse a demi:lion rampant guardant ducally crowned, holding in his dexter paw- a scymitar as in the aims. " Near this place lies the body of Frances Kedington, the wife of Robert Kedington of this parish, gent., and only sister of Ambrose, Kedington of Acton, gent. She deParted this life the 30th day Of October, anno dOmini 1715, aged 41.: - Also near this place lies the 'body of the above Robert Kedington, who died the 5th day of 'July, 1741; aged 79." 348 STANSFIELD PAROCHIAL REGISTERS. 8. Tablet below. Also near lies Ambrose Kedington, son of the above Robert and Frances, who died in 1756, aged 56, and Mary his wife, formerly Mary Tweed, who died in 1763, aged 61. Also of Charles Bigg, gent., who died Sept: 7th, 1798, aged 74 years. Also of Mary the wife of Charles Bigg, and daughter of Ambrose and Mary Kedingion,.who died April 4th, 1813, aged 74 years. 9. Tablet. Sacred to ,the memory of Beriah Brook, Vicar of. Wressle in Yorkshire, Perpetual Curate of Denston, and 46 years Curate, of this parish, who died the 26th Decr., 1809. Also of Mary his wife (formerly Mary Mason), who died 23rd February, 1836, aged 89. STANSFIELD PAROCHIAL REGISTERS. The chief interest in these registers lieS,in the fact of their being complete from the 30th Hen. VIII. to the present time, with one exception mentioned below. It' 1538 Thomas'Cromwell issued instructions to the clergy ordering them to provide for every church a register book, and to *writetherein every person's name that should be wedded, christened, and buried, with the day and year. This order was complied with in Stansfield. In 1597 it was ordered by the Synod that a parchment volume should be provided at the cost of the parish, and that into it should be-carefully transcribed all the contents of the old books. This, too, was done, so far as concerned names and dates. The first book is a thin parchment folio, entitled " Liber Registrarius. de Stansfielde in Corn. Suff." The first page is headed " Catalogus nominum eorum qui in parochia dicta de Stansfielde baptiz." It begins " Anno 30 R. H." From 1538-1599 the entries are all written in court hand. The first few contain only the name of the child's father, thus : " ffil. W. Andrew baptiz." ; three years later the child's name is also given, thus : " Robt. Lot fil. Robt. Lot baptiz." From 1554-1563, only the child's name, as, " Alicia Orbell baptiz." From 1563-84, the entries give the names of both parents. From 1585— 99—" Tempore M. Nicolai Walronde Rectoris• Eccl. de STANSFIELD PAROCHIAL REGISTERS. 349 , 'Stanesfelde,"—thus, " Johannes Sparrow fil. Joh. et Annaz ux. baptiz." The end of the copy iSsigned by N. Walronde, and the churchwardens, John Sparrowe and Robert Hammond. 'Thus the registers had been gradually becom- ing more exact. The entries continue in an inferior court hand for another year. Then " Rectore de Stansf. Jac. Rowe," they are in current hand. Many of the names in the 16th century register are still represented in the parish. The same remarks apply to the registers of marriages and burials. But it is to be noted that no marriages are registered between 1642 and 1661.. How is this gap of 19 years to be accounted for ? It would _seemthat under the Act of 1653 marriage became a civil ceremony, and the functions of the clergy were transferred to the Justice of the Peace ; and the registers of such marriages may have been kept elsewhere.